White Lies

by Julie Salamon

Jamaica Just, a journalist for a New York daily, tries to reconcile her life with the experiences of her parents who survived the Nazi death camps

259 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Julie Salamon has written thirteen books in many genres, including Unlikely Friends, an Audible Original released summer 2021. Her new children's book One More Story, Tata, illustrated by Jill Weber, was published by Astra's Minerva imprint in July 2024. She is working on a nonfiction book for The Penguin Press, that involves the crisis of urban homelessness and its intersection with history. Julie's other books include New York Times bestsellers Wendy and the Lost Boys and The Christmas Tree (illustrated by Jill Weber) as well as Hospital, The Devil’s Candy, Facing the Wind , The Net of Dreams , Innocent Bystander and Rambam’s Ladder. She has written two children's books, Mutt's Promise, and Cat in the City, also illustrated by Jill Weber. Julie was a reporter and then the film critic for The Wall Street Journal and then a television critic and reporter on the staff of the New York Times. Julie is a graduate of Tufts University and New York University School of Law. She is chair of the BRC, a social services organization in New York City that provides care for people who are homeless and may suffer from addiction or mental disease.. Born in Cincinnati and raised in Seaman, Ohio, a rural town of 800; in 2008 she was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame. New York City has long been home; she lives in downtown Manhattan with her husband Bill Abrams, executive director of Trickle Up. They have two children, Roxie and Eli, and a dog named Frankie, most recent in a long line of feline and canine friends.

Reviews

[Jill Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never reviewed a book before by telling readers not to read that book but, instead, to read a different book. The "other" book is by the same author in this case, but I do want to explain why. Julie Salamon is a noted author of mostly non-fiction, but a few works of fiction. Her first novel, "White Lies", was written in the late 1980's and is about a young woman - a daughter of Hungarian Holocaust survivors - who grows up in a small town in southern Ohio. The character in the book - Jamaica Just - seems to confirm the oft-noted saying that all first novels are about the author writing them.

I've read most of Julie Salamon's works of non-fiction. She wrote a classic book, "The Devil's Candy", about the making of the movie, "The Bonfires of the Vanities". She also wrote books about Wendy Wasserman, a true crime book, and her first book, "The Net of Dreams: A Family's Search for a Rightful Place". It is this book that I read many years ago and got me started on looking for Julie Salamon's work.

"A Net of Dreams" is in a way the non-fiction version of "White Lies". And as a work of non-fiction it's much more interesting than the fictional version. I'm not sure why I find "real" people more interesting than fictional ones, but they're usually more vividly drawn by the author.

If you come across this review, I think that you should look instead at buying "A Net of Dreams". You won't regret it.

[Daniel Krolik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly written and doesn't build to anything, but it's a fun time capsule of 80s liberal artsy New York. The best sections deal with the tenuous bond between Holocaust survivors and their children. Those sections ring with such specificity and clarity that outdo everything else.